Officials probe claims that roadside vendors are selling fake rice in Shau Kei Wan
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 04 May, 2014, 5:57pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 04 May, 2014, 5:57pm
Stuart Lau [email protected]
File photo of a woman buying rice in a Hong Kong supermarket. Customs officers are looking into complaints by Shau Kei Wan residents that some roadside vendors have been selling counterfeit Thai rice. Photo: AFP
Customs officers are looking into complaints by Shau Kei Wan residents that some roadside vendors have been selling counterfeit Thai rice.
The residents said they suspected that the rice was fake because of its uncooked taste and its colour that differs hugely from the genuine product sold in supermarkets.
The rice, according to the Yiu Tung Estate residents, is being sold by truck drivers at reduced prices.
Sold for HK$320, the 25-kilogram rice packs are not found in ordinary supermarkets, said Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing, who helped residents report their suspicions to customs officials.
He said people with knowledge of the rice retail trade had said the particular Thai brand sold by the roadside hawkers did not offer 25kg-size packs, and that the cost of this quantity of rice was normally around HK$70 higher, at HK$390.
“Some of the rice grains look whiter than others within the same pack,” Wong said of the dubious products on Sunday. “Both the smell and the taste are different from genuine products.”
The trucks have been spotted selling foodstuffs in Shau Kei Wan for the last three years, but the problematic rice did not emerge until this year, according to residents.
